White House, senators mull reform

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- The stage was set Wednesday for U.S. Senate and White House negotiators to begin hammering out a compromise healthcare reform package, officials said.

The goal of the negotiators is to craft a legislative package that can win at least 60 votes in the Senate from Democrats and perhaps a few Republicans -- enough to avoid a GOP filibuster, The Washington Post reported.

The newspaper said President Barack Obama's top legislative liaisons were to be joined by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, budget chief Peter Orszag and health-reform director Nancy-Ann DeParle in a Wednesday afternoon meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

The Post said lawmakers were looking to Obama to use the sessions to iron out such continuing disputes as the inclusion of a government-run "public option" alternative and whether employers should be mandated to offer their workers health insurance.

"As we've said throughout this process, the White House stands ready to assist Leader Reid and Chairmen Baucus and Dodd in moving the reform effort forward," an official White House statement said.

Also Wednesday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama believed Congress could pass a healthcare bill before the end of the year.

"I think we believe confidently that this can get done this year," Gibbs told reporters. "I think we've made a tremendous amount of progress. ... I think it's tremendously important, from the president's viewpoint, that we finish that this year."